
Why Do People Quit Their Jobs and How to Make Them Stay
The struggle to hire and maintain top-level talent is an industry-wide concern—low unemployment and high turnover is leading to positions going unfilled and managers struggling to accomplish more with less—all while keeping the talent they have and recruiting to fill positions they need. A 2018 study found that 59% of employees said they would leave their current position because of a more appealing offer, not because they are seeking an escape from their current employer. Th

Training your Staff for the Big Game
It’s finally fall, and football season is in full swing. Whether the team you root for plays on Saturday, Sunday, or at the local high school, there is no denying how much hard work the players put in day in and day out to help achieve their goal of victory each week. A very successful college football team’s mantra (and subject of a pretty motivating hype video--if you are into that sort of thing) on their drive to a history-making season was: “They don’t put championship ri

The Pandora's Box of Marijuana and Workplace Policies
It wasn’t too long ago that we discussed on this blog how cell phone policies are changing the nature of manager/employee relationships. Cell phones at work was a concern that many managers were bringing to our attention, and recently a new concern has begun keeping busy managers (specifically on the West Coast) up at night: how to create and enforce a drug policy in the wake of the legalization of marijuana. Currently, marijuana is legal for recreational use in 10 states and

Breaking down Departmental Silos within your Club
As the new year is upon us and many look to make resolutions for the coming year, I recommend instituting, or improving a Department Head Retreat. RCS Hospitality Group recently hosted a webinar on the importance and value associated with creating a strong governance culture with the correct use of board and committee orientations. In that webinar, I touched briefly on a similar orientation for senior leaders/department heads--Let's dig a little deeper into this exercise, If

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 2
Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series authored by RCS owner & president Whitney Reid Pennell for 2018, intended to help club managers and hospitality professionals understand the current obstacles in employee retention and training. Part One can be read here. Part One of this series on trends in employee retention and training discussed what obstacles are currently being faced by hospitality professionals and why they have occurred. Let's continue. What is bein

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Three)
using online instruction allows learning to more easily become a continuous process and not just a sporadic special event. And because onlin

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part Two)
There is growing consensus within the hospitality industry that online training can and should be an integral part of your staff and managem

Ready When You Are: The Power of Online Training (Part One)
Online training has revolutionized the way information, skills, procedures, policies, and institutional culture are transmitted to club empl

The Top 4 Most Used Personality Tests for Management Teams
Have you ever taken a personality test?
These tools are becoming more and more popular with employers as we strive to hire workers with specific qualities, rather than skills. After all, skills can be taught--but inherent qualities cannot. This is particularly important in the hospitality industry. We can train you to be a good server or hostess for example, but if you aren't naturally hospitable, friendly, and helpful, then all the skills in the world still won't be able t

A Service “Blueprint” Helps Build a Great Member Experience
Here’s a familiar sight at every golf club: Long-time members arrive, eager for a relaxing day on the course. Their tee time comes up, and after stopping in the golf shop for their cart reservation, they go out to the first tee to begin their round. They’re cheerfully greeted (by name!) by the staff, led to their cart, which is clean and charged and ready to go, and a great day of golfing begins. It’s precisely this seamless scenario that led them to join this club in the fir